Generally, a vehicular junction box is used to receive a plurality of fuses for various electric devices and is continuously exposed to slight current. When a vehicle is not used for a long time, the slight current passing through the junction box may cause battery discharge and consequently, difficulty in engine starting.
A vehicular junction box is therefore provided with a main fuse to disconnect or connect all circuits of a vehicle. The main fuse is separated from the junction box during long-periods of non use of a vehicle, for example, export shipping of a vehicle, in order to prevent current from flowing through the junction box and consequently, prevent battery discharge.
However, completely separating the main fuse from the junction box entails a risk of loss of the main fuse. Therefore, to eliminate this problem, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a fuse fastening device 300 has been developed, by which a fuse 200 can be moved upward or downward while being coupled in a junction box 100, so as to be connected to or disconnected from the junction box 100.
In the above-described conventional fuse fastening device 300, as best shown in FIG. 7, the fuse 200 is inserted into the fuse fastening device 300 from an upper end such that connecting terminals 201 of the fuse 200 protrude downward into the fuse fastening device 300. If the fuse fastening device 300, integrally coupled with the fuse 200, is moved downward, the connecting terminals 201 of the fuse 200 are inserted into and connected to the junction box 100, achieving power connection throughout a vehicle. If the fuse fastening device 300 is moved upward, the connecting terminals 201 of the fuse 200 are separated and electrically disconnected from the junction box 100 while the fuse fastening device 300 is still mechanically coupled to the junction box 100.
Recently, to provide a light-weight vehicle and a miniaturized junction box, a low-profile fuse, having a smaller size than conventional fuses, has been developed. Such a low-profile fuse has a significantly lower height and thus, connecting terminals thereof are configured to protrude laterally from the fuse. Therefore, it is difficult to connect the low-profile fuse to a junction box by inserting the fuse into the fuse fastening device from the upper end of the device as described above. Moreover, it is difficult to maintain efficient connection between the low-profile fuse and the junction box.